Deeper cooperation between BRICS nations in digital transformation and smart manufacturing can help global supply and industrial chains better deal with lingering fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, experts and company executives said.

Lu Chuncong, head of the China Academy of Industrial Internet, said digital transformation is an irreversible trend underpinning global economic and social development. Innovative development of the industrial internet and digitalization of manufacturing are vital for the development of BRICS members.

The comments came as the BRICS Initiative for Cooperation on Digitalization of Manufacturing was unveiled at a forum held on Monday and Tuesday in Xiamen, Fujian province. The event's official name is: BRICS Forum on Development of Industrial Internet and Digital Manufacturing.

The initiative called for more efforts to build consensus on accelerating the integration of industry and digital technologies, facilitate the deployment and large-scale application of digital infrastructure for inclusive development, and explore potential mechanisms for flow of data among BRICS members, while respecting national data sovereignty and security.

Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said at the opening ceremony that the ministry will boost ties with its BRICS counterparts in industrial internet and digital manufacturing.

Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, said via a video link at the forum that the industrial internet and digital manufacturing will be powerful engines of global economic recovery.

Li Peigen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the forum that companies from all over the world are attaching greater importance to supply chain management amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and elastic supply chains require support from industrial internet technologies.

Tang Xiuguo, president of Chinese machinery giant Sany Group, called for the establishment of an industrial internet enterprise alliance for companies among the BRICS bloc so that joint efforts can be made to pave the way for an integrated, coordinated and linked development pattern. Meanwhile, such an alliance can help cultivate similar standards for the industrial internet, which will also be compatible with various forms.

Such efforts will help better deal with the impact of the pandemic, improve the resilience and competitiveness of industrial and supply chains, and inject new vitality into the industrial economy, Tang said.